Two That Are One
by StarWarriorGirl14
Summary: Two sisters with extraordinary abilities have come to SHIELD's attention. As everything they thought they knew is shattered, they are quickly plunged into adventure as they train to become part of the Avengers Initiative. When it comes down to love and sisterhood versus duty, the fate of the world hangs in the balance as both girls are faced with almost impossible choices.
1. Prologue

"Mommy, Mommy, look at what I did!" a girl of around six or seven exclaimed, holding something out in her hands. Her long blonde hair was up in two pigtails and her bright hazel eyes glittered with pride. The girl's mother, known as Cassidy Ryder, looked at the object in the girl's hands with shock.

"A-Aimee...how are you doing that? My flower garden was dead!" Cassidy had never been much of a gardener, but Aimee had insisted that they keep a garden. Aimee looked down at her hands, where the previously-dead rose was now thriving right in her palm.

"I picked it! But before that, I held out my hand and poof! The flowers were alive again!" Aimee chirped, unaware of her mother's barely-concealed distress.

'All right, Aimee..." Cassidy said, choosing her words carefully. "Why don't you go find your sister, and we can all go inside and have some sandwiches and lemonade, okay?" Aimee nodded happily, pink skirt bouncing as she jumped up and down.

"I'll get her!" she said, running off to where she knew her sister would be. There was a small lake not far from the fence marking the end of their backyard, where Aimee's sister tended to head on warm days such as this.

"Alexis! Alexis, time for lunch!" Aimee called, searching for her twin. "Alexis? Are you here?" she asked. There were Alexis' socks and shoes by the edge of the lake, but where was their owner?

Just as Aimee was about to scream for help, her sister burst out of the water a good 30 feet away.

"Hi, Aimee!" she exclaimed, swimming for shore. Aimee crossed her arms, unable to keep the frown on her face but still slightly angry.

"What were you doing?! You could have drowned!" Alexis looked at her older twin sister with an air of puzzlement.

"No, I couldn't," she replied. "Know why?"

"Why?" Aimee huffed as Alexis fixed her ponytail, which was dripping wet. Her green eyes sparkled with amusement.

"Because I can make bubbles around my nose and mouth," she whispered, a bit conspiratorial for her age. "I can breathe underwater, Aims!" Aimee brightened at this, eager to tell her sister what _she'd _been able to do.

"Guess what?! I made Mommy's flowers come back!" Alexis smiled.

"Did she like it?" she asked.

"I think so. She sounded a little scared, but I don't think she minded," Alexis nodded absently, stretching out her arms.

"Watch this," she suddenly said. She spread out her fingers and all the water from her swimming trip spiraled off her. Clear ribbons of water twisted and turned around her fingers and coiled up her wrists, her ankles, forming a sort of halo above her head. And then it flew up into the air, landing with barely a ripple into the lake. She now stood there completely dry, looking like she hadn't even dipped a finger into the water.

"Let's go, Sis!" Aimee whined, her stomach grumbling. Alexis sighed; she'd worked on that little trick for _weeks._

"Okay, okay, I'm coming!" she exclaimed, taking off after her sister, who had already started running back to the small cream-colored house. "But I'll get there first!"

"No, you won't!" Aimee laughed, even though Alexis was right behind her. The two girls pelted down the gravel path towards home, giggling and shouting. When they reached the chipped white fence, Aimee slowed to open the gate. Alexis, on the other hand, simply clambered up and over the beams, barely breaking her pace. Aimee put her hands on her hips as Alexis turned to face her, grinning all the while.

"Sis, you're gonna hurt yourself doing that!" she exclaimed, determined to be the protective figure she knew big sisters to be. Alexis rolled her eyes.

"Still haven't!" She muttered childishly, following her sister inside.

* * *

"Girls, I need to talk to you about something important," Cassidy said, looking over at her daughters as they sat at the kitchen table. Aimee had all but devoured her peanut-butter-and-grape-jelly sandwich, while Alexis, opting for honey instead, chose to pull the crusts off first.

"What is it, Mommy?" Aimee asked. Cassidy ran her fingers through her chestnut-brown hair.

"Well, it's about those...special powers you have," Both girls perked up at this; their powers were of popular topic around the house.

"We've never talked about them anywhere except home, Mom," Alexis assured. Cassidy smiled; Alexis was always the one who knew when something was wrong.

"Thank you, honey, but that isn't it," she said. "I think maybe you should stop using them for a while." Judging from the twins' expressions, it was as if Cassidy had told them to cut off one of their fingers.

"But _why,_ Mommy? We never hurt anyone," Aimee said.

"You tripped Billy Jenkins with a tree root at school," Alexis argued. "I _know _that was you."

"Now, Alexis, you haven't really been responsible with your powers, either," Cassidy chided. "Like making your hair turn bright green in the middle of the school day." Aimee giggled at Alexis, who guiltily sank a little lower in her chair.

"I didn't know it didn't change back yet..." she mumbled.

"But that's why I want you to stop using them for now," Cassidy pressed on, before either girl could get distracted. "You can't control them, and maybe if you stop using them they'll go away..."

"Why would I want them to go away?!" Alexis exclaimed.

"I want to keep my powers! They make us special!" Aimee shrieked. Cassidy sighed, resting her elbows on the table.

"Okay, but you can't use them. No grass powers, no shapeshifting, no more powers, even if others ones show up. Promise?"

"We promise," Alexis and Aimee chorused, albeit a bit reluctantly.

"Someday," Cassidy said, smiling at her daughters. "When you're older, I'll explain everything to you. Why we have to hide your powers, what happened with your father, everything. But right now, let's just pretend we don't have any powers. We just live in a normal house, with no secrets and no problems. Okay?" Aimee nodded eagerly, looking over at her sister, who sat there indifferently.

"What's wrong, Sis?" Aimee asked as Cassidy excused herself to go upstairs for a minute.

"Every house has secrets, Aimee," Alexis replied, with wisdom far beyond her years. "Our powers are this house's secrets. There might be more, too."

"Like why Mommy wants us to stop using them?" Alexis nodded.

"Something like that."

* * *

**So here you have it, my latest story! Chapter one is already written, but with school starting back up I might take a little while to type it up and post it! The girls will be a lot older for the remainder of the story, this was just for a little bit of background and a little shot of their childhood. Read and review always, and see you next chapter!**

**Oh, yeah. I don't own anything except my OC's and my ideas. And my laptop. And all that fun stuff. But the Avengers? Sadly, no.  
**


	2. Hidden Secrets

_Ten Years Later..._

"Sis, we're gonna miss the bus!" Aimee shouted, banging on Alexis' door. Although the two used to share a room, due to the fact that Alexis' organizational skills (or lack thereof) made her room look like a bomb had gone off, and Aimee was an all-around neat freak, Aimee had been transferred to the guest room down the hall.

"One minute!" Alexis called, clearly annoyed.

"We won't _have _another minute; we were supposed to head to the bus stop five minutes ago!" Aimee replied anxiously, already knowing what her twin's response would be.

Alexis did not disappoint.

"It isn't my fault you think it's necessary to go to the bus stop 10 minutes in advance! We could leave in another 5 minutes and still make it there in time!" Aimee groaned, knowing for a fact that Alexis had tested this theory the few days Aimee had stayed home sick from school. For whatever reason, Alexis had never had a sick day in her life. Changing the subject, Aimee looked down at the long white dress she was wearing. Her gold bracelets and headdress shone in the bright hallway light, and dramatic eyeliner had been put around her eyes.

"Is your costume coming along okay?" Alexis sighed for a moment before answering.

"Now that you mention it, I _have _had a few malfunctions...but nothing as bad as your makeup incident last week, _Isis._" Aimee could practically _hear _the smirk in Alexis' voice as she remembered her first horribly-failed attempts to get a look similar to Isis.

"Well, we'll be pros by the time Halloween really _does _roll around," Aimee said. Because Halloween was right around the corner, their school had decided to let students wear costumes to school. Normally, they were only allowed to on the holiday itself, but someone had apparently talked the principal into doing a "Mythology Week" to help students learn more about other cultures and such things.

Aimee didn't have to do a whole lot of thinking to know that it was Alexis who'd done the convincing.

"Okay! How do I look?" Alexis asked, all but whipping the door open. She had a navy blue schoolgirl uniform on that looked like she'd stepped straight out of a manga book. But the fact that Alexis was actually wearing a skirt wasn't what got Aimee's attention.

Fox ears, with a tail to match, had been added to the outfit. Ears and a tail that looked much too realistic to be from a costume store, in Aimee's opinion.

"Where'd you get that?" she demanded suspiciously. "The ears and tail. What costume store did those come from?" She'd browsed virtually every costume store in New York City, and had never seen anything like that. Alexis smirked, slipping past her sister and heading down to the entrance of the apartment building.

"They aren't part of a costume," she whispered conspiratorially. "I practiced for over a month; I haven't shifted for so long that I was a little rusty."

"You shifted!" Aimee gasped.

"Yes, I did," Alexis replied with a matter-of-fact tone. "And I'd just go with it if I were you, because I don't have time to run back up and change." Aimee sighed. Ever since they'd moved, Alexis had become a bit more rebellious, a little more prone to cunning trickery. But _this..._

"Mom said never to use our powers!" she hissed as they boarded the bus. Up until two weeks ago, they would drive, but Aimee had wrecked the girls' car and Cassidy wasn't about to let her forget that one.

"She also said she'd explain everything when we were old enough. We turn 18 next week, Aimee; we're practically adults. The least Mom can do is treat us like them. She owes us answers, and I'm not going to blindly follow rules until she holds up her end of the bargain like we've been doing for the past 10 years." Aimee paused, sighing. She hated it when Alexis' arguments made so much sense, but more often than not, they did.

"I guess you're right...but I still think it's a bad idea."

"What's a bad idea?" a freshman asked as he passed their seats. "And why are seniors still riding the bus."

"None of your business, and the car's totaled." Alexis replied. "Now please go off and mind your own business; I'm not in a good mood this morning." The boy's eyes widened as he scrambled for a seat. Alexis watched as he struggled for a spot in the back with amusement. "Check that. I _am _in a good mood."

"And Mom says I'm a good role model..." Aimee groaned, burying her face in her hands. "Where did I go wrong?"

"That's an easy one. We were born in the wrong order."

"But if _you _were the older sister, where would _I _be?"

"Probably exactly where you are right now." There was a trace of pity in Alexis' voice.

"But what if you get caught?" Aimee pressed on. Alexis shrugged.

"If I don't get caught, I _won't _get caught."

"You're awfully sure about that," Aimee commented. "And I promise, if you make a scene I'll swear you're not related to me."

"You know me, Aimee. Discreet as can be," Alexis replied with a relaxed smirk. "So you go ahead and do that." Aimee rested her elbows on her knees, her chin on her hands.

"There's nothing discreet about sprouting extra ears and a tail."

* * *

Alexis knew she should have expected many questions on her costume. After all, a Japanese _kitsune _probably wasn't something everyone was familiar with.

As for the popular "Where'd you get that?" inquiry, Alexis settled on a costume shop in Colorado. She didn't know if anyone doubted this, but the ease in which she lied almost had _her _believing that it had come from an out-of-state store.

It wasn't until sixth-period English, however, when things seemed to take a strange turn.

"That's a very interesting costume, Alexis," her teacher, Mr. Markwood, said. From what Alexis had seen, he always wore a suit and tie and had his light hair combed back. Her class had dubbed him "Mr. Bond" because to them he looked just like a stereotypical spy.

"Thanks. It's a _kitsune. _From Japanese culture," Alexis replied, taking her seat. Mr. Markwood just nodded.

"Wherever that costume came from, it's very original. I haven't seen anything like it." Alexis felt slightly uneasy at this. _That isn't possible. There's no way he can know what I can do. _She thought.

"Nobody has. I suppose I'm just creative like that," she said. All throughout the class, she got the feeling that he was watching her. And when he stepped out of the room to take a phone call, she couldn't help but wonder just who was on the other end of that line.

* * *

"So, how was school?" Cassidy asked at the dinner table that evening. Alexis shot Aimee a cautionary look as she took a bite of pizza.

"Everyone liked my costume, but Alexis' was _really _cool. Especially with the _ears and tail._" Alexis' head snapped up, eyes wide in disbelief and annoyance.

"Alexis Edwina Ryder!" Cassidy exclaimed, turning on the younger daughter. _It's always bad when they use your middle name, _Alexis thought guiltily as Cassidy carried on. "What happened to never using your powers?!"

"What happened to explaining everything once we're old enough?" Alexis asked quietly, voice calm. "You promised you'd tell us. We're almost legally adults; if that isn't old enough I don't know what is. And what's with moving to New York all of a sudden?" Aimee watched Alexis' subtle challenge with apprehension. Cassidy sighed, putting her elbow on the table and running a finger through her hair.

"You're right, you're right. I owe you girls so much explaining, and it's about time you knew..." Before she could say any more, a quiet knock at the door shattered the moment.

"I'll be right back," Cassidy said, making for the door. Alexis sighed.

"So close..." she muttered. Aimee shrugged apologetically.

"Girls, go upstairs for a minute. Don't make a sound," Cassidy called quietly. She sounded almost panicked. Aimee and Alexis exchanged puzzled looks.

"Come on," Aimee whispered, grabbing Alexis' wrist.

"All right," Alexis replied as the two quietly snuck up the stairs.

"Do you think we should hide in our rooms?" Aimee asked. Alexis shook her head.

"Worst-case scenario, we're trapped," she knelt by the stairs, staying close to the wall. "So you just stay there; I'm eavesdropping."Aimee rolled her eyes, but said nothing.

"Mrs. Ryder, I'm Agent Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D. We need to speak to your daughters." A man's voice said. Neither of the girls had ever heard it before.

"You just missed them. They left for a friend's house." Cassidy said, voice quivering.

"We've been watching the building for the past three days, Mrs. Ryder. The girls haven't left."

"I have to admit, it was pretty sneaky, moving right into our backyard," a new voice broke in. With a jolt, Alexis realized that it was Mr. Markwood. She looked over at Aimee in shock. _That's my English teacher! _She mouthed.

"You should have gotten the girls in sooner, Cassidy. We need to know just what their father did to them."

"Their father did nothing!" Cassidy screamed. "He was helping you, it's not his fault you turned on him!"

"Thaddeus Ryder's job was not to experiment on his over-devoted wife," Markwood replied. "He only kept you around because of your willingness to bend to his every whim. You were—and still are—hopelessly fixated."

"We can't really blame you for this," Coulson asked. "Making Thaddeus out to be the hero is all you've ever known. I suppose he never told you about the previous trials...just like you never told the girls about the children that came before them."

"_What?!_" Aimee exclaimed. She couldn't help it; the rising tension and this latest revelation pushed her over the edge.

"So they've been upstairs the whole time?" Markwood asked, not unkindly. "Alexis, Aimee, why don't you come down, and we'll talk this over?"

"What did you say before?" Alexis asked. "What did you say about our father?"

"We have other siblings? What happened to _them_?" Aimee broke in, although a sickening suspicion had already settled over her.

"I promise we'll explain everything," Coulson said. "Just come down here, and we can talk face-to-face."

"But you've been _spying _on us! How can we trust you?!" Aimee shouted. Alexis' gaze flickered over to her for a moment before she continued.

"How about a compromise? You guys stand where you can see us. Face-to-face, but at a more comfortable distance."

"Is that necessary?" Markwood asked. Alexis shrugged, although he couldn't see her.

"Hey, that's the definition of a compromise. Two groups want different things, they meet somewhere in the middle, and everyone walks away a little ticked off."

"...All right, Alexis," The two agents stepped into view as Alexis sat at the top of the stairs, Aimee joining her moments later.

"Your father used to work at S.H.I.E.L.D." Coulson said. "He was experimenting with super-powered humans, or mutants. Trying to find what caused their abilities. When he claimed that he'd created a serum to cause these mutations, it was a breakthrough."

"There was a catch," Markwood said. "We tried to give an adult the serum, resulting in his death. We realized that it had to be given to a subject prior to birth, and shut the project down. We didn't want to risk endangering either the mother or the baby."

"Your father did just that. He gave the serum to his conveniently-pregnant wife, and you and your sister were born nine months later. Once we found out, we shut down his projects and research and made to arrest him...but he escaped. It was only then when we found out that he'd done it not once, but multiple times."

"You mean...all those other children earlier...didn't make it?" Aimee asked.

"Right, and even though you two have made it this far, it's imperative that we take you in. We're not sure if there have been any ill effects from the serum."

"This is insane! You can't take them; they're my daughters! The only family I have left!" Cassidy screamed, sounding very much the desperate woman.

"Ms. Ryder, please don't make this difficult..." Coulson said.

"Girls we need to talk to you at headquarters,"

"We've already talked..." Aimee said. "You just said we need to be tested. Which is it?!"

"Mom's right about one thing," Alexis said quietly. "This _is _insane. Aimee, don't you realize what this means? We've been _lied _to for so long! Who's telling the truth?!" she screamed. There was a rattling and a clunk before water pipes from all over the building burst. Water burst through the walls, effectively dousing everyone downstairs in a matter of seconds.

"Oops," Alexis said, eyes wide. "I didn't think that'd happen..."

"'Oops'?" Aimee echoed. "This isn't really an 'oops' moment, Alexis! Now come on, let's get out of here!"

"You mean...we're running?" Alexis asked, still a bit stunned by her stunt with the water pipes.

"Exactly. So go pack your stuff, and we'll go down the fire escape." Alexis looked over at her sister, a mingling of surprise and admiration on her face.

"Playing the big sister...will wonders never cease?" She asked, grinning.

"Whatever. Just hurry up before those two find a way upstairs."

* * *

**And once again, I am reminded just how quickly people tend to find stories. 9 email alerts in the first 24 hours. 8 subtracting the one I got telling me that I made a new story. Not sure why that happens...because I knew I uploading this story before the email did!  
**

**Anyway, we're going to meet the Avengers in this next chapter, and hopefully I won't botch their personalities too badly. Thanks for all the alerts/favorites to both this story and myself; words can't express how happy that makes me! Until next chapter!  
**


	3. Enter Avengers

Alexis burst into Aimee's room, a black-and-blue backpack slung hastily over her shoulders. Aimee was at her window, a light pink shoulder bag slung over her.

"What'd you pack?" She asked, turning around to face her sister as she wrenched the window open. After an exchanged glance, Alexis slipped out the window onto the metal platform. Aimee followed suit, dropping her bag down first.

"Notebooks, my laptop, phone, mp3 player, sketchpad, my favorite jeans and T-shirt, wallet, and the chargers for all my technology stuff. You?"

"Photo albums, my ballet stuff, extra clothes, and my license and stuff." Alexis nodded.

"I suppose it'll work. But where are we supposed to go?"

"I don't know," Aimee said, clambering down the ladder with Alexis right behind her. "We'll probably just head down to a subway station, jump a turnstile and catch a train out of here." Alexis jumped down from the ladder, landing on the pavement with a quiet thump. Aimee shot her a glare, climbing off the ladder a few moments later.

"And do you have any experience with jumping turnstiles?" Alexis asked casually, raising an eyebrow. Aimee adjusted her bag on her shoulder, unwilling to look her sister in the eye.

"I suppose I've sneaked out a few nights," she admitted. "Met some friends, wander around the city, go dancing...stuff like that." Alexis faked a disappointed sigh, shaking her head as they walked along.

"And you're supposed to be a good example for me," she tsked. "Bad form, Aims, bad form."

"Well, we wouldn't have to be resorting to my sneaking out if you hadn't pulled your shapeshifting stunt at school!" Aimee retorted.

"If they'd been watching the building three days beforehand, I don't think they knew." Alexis said, although she couldn't help but think of Markwood's phone call during class. "So are we just running from the house, or _running, _running? As in, get the hell out of Dodge running?"

"We're being chased by the government. I don't see why we should trust them. But you seem to trust Markwood."

"I trust Mr. Markwood the _English teacher,_ not Agent Markwood of S.H.I.E.L.D. Whatever that's supposed to stand for."

"Let's just get out of here, okay?" Aimee asked, and the two girls began sprinting down the street.

"No cars. They must've thought they didn't need any backup." Alexis commented, looking over her shoulder.

"If they didn't have any backup, then _what is that?!_" Aimee screamed, pointing up at the sky. Against the night sky was what looked like a shooting star surging right towards them.

"I don't know," Alexis said. "But I don't like it..." She allowed her vision to enhance itself until she could make out the shape. "Aimee, we're in trouble," she said, voice rising.

"Why? What is it?" Aimee asked as they rounded a corner.

"Iron Man!" Alexis screamed as the superhero swooped over them, barely missing Alexis' hoodie and Aimee's shirt.

"They brought the _Avengers_ as backup?! Why did they think they _needed_ to?!" Aimee screamed.

"How should I know?!" Alexis asked, annoyance clear in her voice. "They probably thought Mom made S.H.I.E.L.D. out to be the bad guys, so we'd fight them,"

"And here we are, tearing like heck through the streets," Aimee said flatly. Alexis shrugged.

"Mixed them up, at any rate," she offered.

"Not for long! And when they catch up with us...! Why'd you get us into this mess?!"

"May I remind you," Alexis said, suddenly coming to a stop. "That this running-away thing was _your _brilliant idea. And you could _help _me instead of making me do all the work. Otherwise we might run into some problems."

"Like Iron Man chasing us?"

"Yeah, just like that," Alexis replied amicably as said hero landed just a few feet from them.

"All right, girls, you've had your fun," he said.

"Why, Stark, we thought with all the girls chasing you, it'd be refreshing for a few to be running _from_ you, instead," Alexis said, smirking. Stark paused for a moment.

"That's good," he said at last, sounding a little surprised.

"Stay focused, Stark," a woman's voice said. "We need to get them back to base." Black Widow stepped out of the shadows, not showing any weapons on her. Frankly, that scared Aimee and Alexis twice as much.

"Don't you feel ridiculous, being called all the way here to handle a couple teenage girls?" Alexis asked, looking for the rest of the Avengers. They had to be around here _somewhere..._

"Sis. Not helping." Aimee muttered.

"At least I'm doing _something,_" Alexis snapped back.

"All right! I'll try something!" Aimee hissed. She closed her eyes, balling her fists so hard her knuckles turned white. A low rumbling sounded from under the street as an ominous whooshing came from down the street.

_"What_ was that?" Stark asked. Before anyone could answer, a large amount of vines burst out of the street, intertwining as they surged out towards the two Avengers. At the same time, a gust of wind almost blew them off their feet, although Alexis and Aimee were completely unaffected. Alexis looked over at her sister, eyes wide.

"Did you mean to do that?" she asked quietly as Stark and Black Widow attempted to fight off the vines while trying to stay on their feet.

"No...maybe...yes?" Aimee said. "I didn't think it would actually work!" she added as they continued running.

"Well, it did. And it was _awesome._" Alexis said. "Hey! If you're controlling earth and air, and that's what it looks like, then do you think I have fire, too?!" Aimee didn't bother hiding her shudder.

"Oh, please, no. _Anything _but that." she said.

"How come?" Alexis asked.

"In case you haven't noticed, Sis, you're a bit of a pyro." Alexis grinned.

"No arguments here," she said. The girls rounded a corner, not paying much attention to where they were going until they bounced off a wall and landed on the pavement. Alexis fell backwards, landing on her rear. Aimee wasn't so lucky; she'd fallen on her side and her entire right arm was scraped up.

"Oww..." Alexis groaned, looking up and belatedly realizing that it was no wall they'd run into.

"Thor! That's them!" Black Widow called, running towards them.

"Aimee! _Move!_" Alexis yelled, yanking her sister to the left as the Asgardian made a grab for them. They made to turn, but stopped short. Seeing the Hulk standing right where you needed to be had that effect on people.

"Any brilliant ideas, Sis?" Aimee asked, looking around. Alexis gave out a nervous, breathy laugh.

"Actually, I was hoping you could be the big sister this time..." she said.

"Had us going for a little bit, there," Stark said, walking up to them. Even now, leaves dutifully clung to his suit, weakly thrashing in vain attempts to stop him. "You do this? Nice job, Flower Girl."

"Yeah, but with all the damage those vines and windstorm caused...not to mention your stunt with the water pipes..." Black Widow said, gesturing to each girl in turn. Alexis raised an eyebrow, as if to say _"Little?"_. "It's going to take a heap of explaining back at base. So if you're done playing hide-and-seek, why don't you come down to S.H.I.E.L.D. with us so we can find out how many abilities you two have?"

"You think we're just gonna come with you?! You haven't given us any reason to trust you! Why don't you just go crawling back to your boss until we decide we're ready?!" Aimee yelled, quivering anger in her voice.

"Aimee..." Alexis said quietly, casting a nervous glance around.

"What?" Aimee asked, rounding on her sister. "You're just gonna walk away with these guys?!"

"Stop putting words in my mouth," Alexis said defensively, crossing her arms. Aimee threw her hands up in the air.

"We don't even know why they want us! It could be some sort of...I don't know, some scheme or something!"

"Aimee, you're hysterical." Alexis said, voice quavering. She was normally calm when her sister got like this, but she was genuinely scared right now.

"All right, she's had her say. Let's take them in."

"_No!_" Aimee screamed, lunging for the only weapon she could see; Thor's hammer. Her fingers curled around the handle, wrenching it free. And while this alone was a surprise, the true shock of the evening was sure to follow soon after.

Instead of being unable to lift Mjolnir, Aimee was able to easily swing it around.

"How...?" Thor asked, voicing the thoughts currently running through the other Avengers' heads.

"Get away from me and my sister," Aimee snarled. She turned to Stark, who was apparently standing closer to Alexis than Aimee was okay with. "Get away from her, or you'll know a whole new meaning to 'getting hammered'." Before Aimee could make good on that threat, however, a tranquilizer-tipped arrow flew out of nowhere, striking Aimee right in the thigh. "Ow..." she mumbled, sounding confused. Then she slumped to the ground, fast asleep.

"Perfect timing, Clint," Black Widow said after a moment's pause.

"Sure thing, Natasha. Should I get the sister, too?" Alexis visibly paled at this.

"No, she shouldn't be a problem," Natasha replied. "Alexis, isn't it?"

"Y-yeah..." Alexis managed to reply. To her immense surprise, Natasha smiled a little bit.

"I've heard quite a bit about you from Markwood. Why don't we go talk this over?" Alexis looked at the now-complete Avengers team surrounding her.

"Call me crazy, but something's telling me I don't have much of a choice," she said matter-of-factly.

* * *

**All right, here's the next chapter. Sorry if anything was botched to the point of disgust, but, well, that's me. All things considered, I think I did a fairly decent job.**

**Now, before someone goes off on me about the whole Mjolnir thing (believe me, I know somebody will), it IS said that one can lift it if one is worthy. So for whatever reason, Aimee was obviously deemed worthy, at least at that moment in time.  
**


End file.
